Terrified, his wife fears for his life
San
Antonio – Lights blazed through the night at John Foddrill's northwest San Antonio
home tonight after the former city telecommunications chief fled with
his wife to an undisclosed South Texas location to be with “friends
who have my back.”
When
The Legendary arrived to keep an appointment for a comprehensive
interview based on revelations of names, facts and figures he has
made over the past week regarding allegatons of city officials
working in collusion with accountants and government inspectors to
defraud bond underwriters and grant administrators for the past 25
years, we found only this enigmatic e-mail.
“There
was an article about the failing 911 system published today and I
am not going to be home until I see how the City and SAPD
responds to the truth being told about them and the danger to
citizen's /first responder's lives that they have been concealing for
years.
“Keep
your head down.”
In
the article, a news writer revealed that 911 emergency police and
fire calls experienced a 20 percent fail rate because dispatchers
often placed callers on hold prior to even obtaining information as
to the nature of callers' emergencies.
That
article matches a series of such revelations over the years,
including actual case files of dispatchers disciplined for sleeping
on the job, hanging up on callers, and dropping their duties
altogether during officer-related shootings.
Foddrill's
allegations go much deeper than that. He has supplied The Legendary
and other news outlets with actual recordings of meetings with
special agents of the Housing and Urban Development department in
which he detailed exactly how grant funds go unaccounted, spend on
other projects, and the falsified figures turned over to accountants
who sign off on audits supplied bond underwriters.
He
alleges millions upon millions of dollars have been thereby
misapplied and outright stolen through deceptive accounting
practices. Officials really spent the money on office remodeling, and accounted for the shortages by falsifying pay records to show that certain employees worked hours they did not.
About
20 percent of San Antonio's income comes from government grants.
But
Foddrill's experience with government funding is one that shows a
pattern of deception for the past 25 years, he says. When he tracked
a 25 percent fail rate among emergency calls, he knew that money
allocated to update the system's software and hardware requirements
would cure the problem.
That's
when the InformationTechnology manager informed him that “It's a
money problem. We don't have any.
“I
had a $5.2 million a year budget and never had any money,” he
recalls.
The
allegations led to his dismissal under prejudice as the manager over
the 911 system, a whistleblower trial in which officials including
the Municipal Integrity Manager, city auditor and police and fire
officials lied under oath and a judge decreed a take nothing
judgment.
City
investigators declared his allegations unfounded. The court decided
there was a lack of evidence.
Nevertheless,
Foddrill filed a complaint with the Securities Exchange Commission
last May; he also filed information with the State Board of
Accountancy alleging crooked accounting practices by CPA employed by
the city as well as bond underwriters and federal government.
Foddrill
and a Fire Department contract compliance manager were both
subsequently banned from visiting City Hall and the Civic Plaza to
obtain records that support their allegations. They have both filed
suit in U.S. District Court in order to gain redress for deprivation
of their civil rights. The judge signed a writ in October that
enjoins police officias to allow both of them access to the premises.
His
wife Susan lost her last nerve going into the night before the day
for the face tp face, on-mike and camera interview. She demanded that
they leave the area. "She's afraid they will kill me," he said, his voice wavering over a shaky cell phone connection.
Over
the years, they have endured such terroristic practices as two police
officers arriving in the wee hours of the morning to perform a
“mental health check” by knocking on a neighbor's door and
arousing his family in order to inquire with the Foddrills have any
firearms. They asked if John Foddrill was in a fit mental condition
to have guns.
Police
officials have warned him that dispatchers could get mixed up between
his address and that of his son, John Foddrill, Jr., who lives only a
couple of blocks away. In another case, an officer warned him about
standing next to his car where it was parked on the street in front
of a municipal building. A police car coud come flying around the
corner on some emergency and hit him or his car, killing or injuring
him accidentally.
He
fears being tasered to death, cuffed in a hogtied position and
smothering for breath, or being beaten to death.
One
may read more about the situation by reading these clippings:
This is great journalism. I've followed this series with great interest. Again, great job.
ReplyDeleteThis is frightening!! While living in Boerne (NW of San Antonio, in Bexar Co.), the Sheriff's Dept. always responded promptly enough and we had no idea about the problems only a few miles down in SA. Glad we moved to a safer, more responsible & responsive community!! Thanks for the informative report!
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